Non-destructive entry first, always - and we re-key Schlage, Kwikset, and Baldwin locks on the spot while you watch
You get a price before we start. It does not change when we arrive. No surprises.
Fast, Reliable Lock Installation & Rekey Across Boulder
Lock installation and rekeying in Boulder typically runs $95-$180 for a standard rekey (per cylinder re-pinned to a new key) and $220-$450 for a complete new deadbolt or entry lockset installed, including labor. We respond to most Boulder neighborhoods within 45-60 minutes for scheduled work, and same-day service is available for urgent cases. Call (331) 310-8471 and a live person answers. Always.
Boulder is not a simple service market. The housing stock on Mapleton Hill and University Hill runs back to the 1890s, which means we’re often working on original mortise lock bodies that Home Depot hardware was never designed to fit. Newer construction in Gunbarrel and the subdivisions off Broadway sits on frames that move with Chinook-driven temperature swings. We know both problems well, because we work both ends of town every week. Our Lock Installation & Rekey team handles everything from a single Kwikset re-pin to full keyless entry and smart lock retrofits on hundred-year-old doors. And we do it all with a written price before we touch anything.
Key Takeaways
- Standard rekey in Boulder: $95-$180 per cylinder, quoted in writing before work starts.
- Smart lock installation: $180-$380 including hardware and labor, depending on door condition.
- We rekey original mortise locks from the 1890s-1940s without replacing the hardware when the body is sound.
- August lease turnover on University Hill is our busiest rekey season. We batch-schedule and turn units fast.
- Every Boulder job includes a documented photo record and a written price. No exceptions.
Why Novak Lock & Security Is Boulder’s Go-To for Lock Installation
We’ve built our Boulder reputation one job at a time since 2002. The work is documented, the pricing is fixed before dispatch, and the technician who shows up is background-checked and uniformed. No subcontracting. No bait prices that bloom at the door. Haven Standard Clause 1: the price on the phone is the price on the invoice. That rule has been in place since the day Daniel Novak founded the business, and it has never been waived. Not once.
Boulder customers tend to research before they call. They read the three-star reviews. They want to know what a job will actually cost, and they’re skeptical of anyone who won’t say. We publish our ranges here for that reason. A standard deadbolt installation in Boulder runs $220-$380. A rekey of three cylinders runs $240-$420. The full written quote comes before anyone is dispatched. If a competitor has quoted you something else in writing, bring it. We’ll review it at no charge and tell you honestly whether it’s a fair price for the work described.
Our response time to central Boulder, including Mapleton Hill, Whittier, and Goss-Grove, is consistently under an hour for scheduled work. For University Hill during August turnover, we run dedicated rekey crews. That’s the only way to handle the volume.
Our Lock Installation & Rekey Services in Boulder
Smart Lock Installation
Boulder homeowners buy smart locks for the obvious reasons: keyless entry, remote access, rental management, or just not wanting to carry keys on a run up Flagstaff. But the real work in Boulder is fitting a modern smart lock to an older door. Many pre-1940 doors have a 1-1/2″ bore and a narrow backset that a standard smart lock won’t fit without careful prep. We retrofit Schlage Encode, Yale Assure, and other smart locks onto older doors every week. Typical cost in Boulder: $240-$450 installed, including the unit, labor, and any strike or bore adjustment. We tell you the exact price before you approve anything.
Keyless Entry
Keyless entry means a keypad deadbolt, a standalone keypad, or a full keyless handle set. For Boulder rentals, we install a lot of Schlage keypad deadbolts on University Hill, where property managers want code rotation between tenants rather than cutting and tracking physical keys. For owner-occupied homes near Chautauqua or Newlands, we often pair keyless entry with a high-security Mul-T-Lock cylinder for the times when a code isn’t the right tool. Price range: $200-$400 installed, depending on hardware and door prep.
Keypad Lock
A keypad lock is the most common entry-level upgrade in Boulder. Straightforward to install on standard doors, more involved on old ones. We stock Schlage BE365 and FE595 keypads locally and can typically install same-day when scheduling allows. The critical part on Boulder’s older homes is the strike plate and latch alignment. A keypad deadbolt that binds against the strike because of a shifted frame will drain the battery fast and frustrate everyone. We set them up to work with the door as it actually sits, not how it sat when the house was built.
Biometric Lock
Biometric locks read fingerprints. They’re less common in Boulder than in commercial settings, but we’ve installed them on home offices, wine cellars, gun rooms, and some Airbnb properties where owners want access logs. Boulder’s dry climate and fine dust can affect fingerprint reader performance, so we recommend models with a physical key override, and we make sure the override keyway itself is high-quality. If you’re considering a biometric lock in Boulder, ask us about models that hold up to the altitude and the dust. We’ll give you an honest recommendation, not a sales pitch.
We also handle Key Duplication for Boulder residents, including keys that big-box stores won’t touch: high-security Medeco and Mul-T-Lock restricted keys, old mortise keys, and keys cut to code. If you need a spare for your Mapleton Hill original lock, we can cut it on-site.
What happens when you call
- 1
A real person answersNo phone trees - you reach a local pro.
- 2
You get an upfront price rangeHonest numbers before anyone is dispatched.
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A background-checked tech heads outLicensed & insured, dispatched right away.
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You approve before work beginsNothing starts until you say go.
Trusted Brands We Service in Boulder
We’re factory-authorized for Medeco, Mul-T-Lock, and Abloy, and we install and service Baldwin, Schlage, Sargent, and Yale hardware throughout Boulder. That matters when you have a Baldwin mortise lock from 1927 that needs a new cylinder, or a Yale smart lock that won’t calibrate after a Chinook event. We know the tolerances on these locks, and we know how Boulder’s doors abuse them. We keep common cylinders, re-pin kits, and strike hardware in our local service vehicles, which means most Boulder jobs are completed in a single visit.
Common Lock Installation & Rekey Problems We See in Boulder Homes
- Mortise locks with worn cylinders. On Mapleton Hill, University Hill, and the numbered streets west of Broadway, original mortise lock bodies are often still solid, but the cylinder is shot. Pin tumblers wear down, keys get sloppy, and eventually the key won’t turn at all. A rekey won’t save a cylinder that’s this far gone. The fix is a new cylinder fitted into the original mortise case. We do this routinely.
- Deadbolts that bind after a Chinook. Boulder’s Chinook winds can push a 40°F temperature swing in a few hours. Wood frames expand and contract faster than metal hardware. A deadbolt that throws cleanly in the morning can hit the strike plate by evening. This is not a rekey issue. It’s a strike alignment issue. We reset the strike and, where needed, adjust the bolt throw.
- High-wear student rentals on University Hill. Years of heavy, careless use wears lock cylinders, strikes, and latches faster than anything else we see in Boulder. On many University Hill properties, the better call is replacing the entire lockset rather than rekeying a cylinder that won’t hold tolerances. We’ll tell you which is which, and we’ll quote both options in writing before we touch a single screw.
- Smart locks installed on doors with non-standard preps. Boulder’s older housing stock doesn’t have uniform bore holes. Many original doors have been drilled, patched, and redrilled over decades. A modern smart lock installed carelessly on one of these doors will cycle poorly and destroy itself in a year. We prep the door properly, install reinforcing plates where needed, and make sure the lock works smoothly on day one and day 365.
Pricing for Lock Installation & Rekey in Boulder, CO
Here are the ranges you can expect for Boulder work:
- Standard rekey (one cylinder, re-pinned to a new key): $95-$180
- Multiple cylinder rekey (3-4 cylinders keyed alike): $240-$420
- Deadbolt or entry lockset installation (standard prep): $220-$380
- Smart lock or keyless entry installation (including hardware): $240-$450
- Mortise cylinder replacement (fitted to original lock body): $140-$260
- Key duplication (standard keys): $5-$15 per key; high-security keys priced by code
What affects the final price in Boulder is simple: the age of your door, the condition of the existing hardware, and whether we’re doing a straightforward rekey or a full retrofit. A 2010-era home in North Boulder with standard bore holes is fast. A 1910 bungalow on Mapleton Hill with a mortise lock and a door that has shifted with a century of Chinooks takes more time. Either way, the price is quoted in writing before we dispatch. No call-out surcharge added at the door. Ever.
We Also Serve Cities Near Boulder
In addition to Lock Installation & Rekey in Boulder, our crews serve Broomfield, Westminster, Thornton, and Arvada. If you’re in one of those cities, same written-price rule applies: the quote on the phone is the price on the invoice.
Serving Boulder, CO - Our Local Coverage Area
We’re based in the Boulder area and know this community well. Use the map below to see our service coverage - if you’re nearby, we can almost certainly help.
FAQs - Lock Installation & Rekey in Boulder
Yes, we can rekey the original mortise locks in most Mapleton Hill bungalows if the lock body is still mechanically sound. The cylinder is the part we re-pin. When the cylinder is too worn to hold tolerances, we replace the cylinder with a new one fitted to the original mortise case, which runs $140-$260. Full lockset replacement is only necessary when the mortise body itself is cracked or the internal springs have failed. Call (331) 310-8471 and we’ll tell you which path applies to your door before you spend anything.
No, a deadbolt that stops aligning after a Chinook is almost never a rekeying issue. It’s a strike plate and frame movement issue. Boulder’s extreme temperature swings cause the door frame wood to expand and contract fast enough that the bolt physically no longer lines up with the strike. We fix this by resetting the strike plate and, in some cases, adjusting the bolt throw. A standard strike realignment in Boulder runs $85-$140. Call (331) 310-8471 and we’ll diagnose it on the spot.
We can rekey a single student rental unit on University Hill in under an hour when doors and hardware are in normal condition, and we batch-schedule multiple units in the same building or block during the August 1 lease turnover window. Property managers in Boulder book these weeks in advance because the entire neighborhood turns over within days. If you have ten units, we can typically complete the full set in one to two days. Call (331) 310-8471 as early as June to get on the August schedule.
Yes. We stock smart locks from Schlage, Yale, and Baldwin, and we use adapter plates and proper bore prep to fit them to older Boulder doors with non-standard spacing. We recently rekeyed a 1920s bungalow on Mapleton Hill where the original mortise lock body was solid, but the cylinder was worn beyond reliable pin retention; we retrofitted a new Schlage cylinder into the existing mortise case and cut fresh keys rather than tearing out the door’s original hardware. The same principle applies to smart locks: we adapt, we don’t force. Call (331) 310-8471 and we’ll tell you what will actually fit your door.
Rekeying means we re-pin the existing cylinder so the old key stops working and a new key operates the lock. This costs $95-$180 per cylinder in Boulder. Replacing the cylinder means we install a new one, which is the better call when a cylinder has been through years of student rental abuse on University Hill and no longer holds its pins reliably. A replaced cylinder costs $140-$260. We’ll tell you which way to go based on the actual wear, not based on what’s easier for us. Call (331) 310-8471 for an honest assessment.
Call Novak Lock & Security for Lock Installation & Rekey in Boulder
If you’re in Boulder and you need a lock installed, a rekey done, or a key duplicated, call (331) 310-8471. A live person answers, 24/7. We’ll give you a firm written price before anyone is dispatched. Every job includes a documented photo record when the technician leaves. Every job is backed by our 365-Day Done Right Promise. If it’s not done right, we make it right.
Boulder’s older doors, mortise locks, and Chinook-shifted frames are our daily work. We don’t guess, and we don’t pad. We show up, we quote a fixed number, and we do the job the way it should have been done the first time.
Written by Daniel Novak, Owner at Novak Lock & Security, independently owned and operated since 2002.
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